The Nigerian government (via the Financial Reporting Council) is set to go tough on religious bodies in the country concerning their financial status and records.    

According to reports, religious bodies, particularly churches, that are currently registered with the Corporate Affairs Commission (CAC) as 'Non-Profit' organisations may be stripped of that status and listed as profitable entities should they fail to make their financial transactions public.

This means they might have to start paying tax to the government.

Religious bodies which felt it was wrong to compel them to disclose their accounts publicly are currently in court against the FRC to seek redress.

The Christian association of Nigeria, CAN, has vehemently rejected the idea, and there are signs it'll drag the commission to court over the issue.

However Executive Secretary of the FRC, Mr. Jim Obazee, said religious institutions currently objecting to making their financial conducts public did not have strong grounds not to make their financial statement public.

According to him, they are violating sections of the CAC Act which they had signed at the point of registration that they would hold Annual General Meetings (AGM) and submit their financial conducts for public scrutiny.


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